NFL officiating confuses us again on crucial Cooper Kupp call
Los Angeles Rams receiver Cooper Kupp’s long catch was called a touchdown, but then when the replay was shown, it looked like something we’ve all seen before.
Kupp fumbled before getting to the goal line. The ball seemed to go over the pylon. And we’d see another episode of the worst rule in the NFL, and the Chicago Bears would get possession.
Except that’s not what the ruling was. It was ruled that Kupp had started to lose the ball before his foot landed out of bounds, so it was a fumble. There was no touchdown. However ... it was ruled that Kupp had fumbled out of bounds at the 1-yard line, though there was certainly a question about that. It seemed that had the pylon extended all the way up, the ball would have hit it. Then it would have been Bears ball.
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Instead, the Rams had the ball at the 1-yard line and Todd Gurley got a cheap touchdown to put Los Angeles up 10-0.
NFL officials have a hard job, and two reasonable people can watch the same play and have a different view of what happened. But the weekly controversies don’t help the perception of officiating in the league.
Whatever happened, the Rams ultimately got a touchdown out of it. And the Bears were likely frustrated at the ruling.
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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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